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Thread: Red-billed Tropicbird

  1. #1
    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    Default Red-billed Tropicbird

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    From Little Tobago in 2016. It was a kick to watch these elegant fliers diving for fish near the darkened cliff face. The Frigatebirds would hover high above, and divebomb the Tropicbirds to steal their catch. Another example of Kleptoparasitism.

    The problem with Little Tobago is that unless you have your own boat (and permission to land it on the island) you are at the mercy of the scheduled tourist boat out of Blue Waters Inn on Tobago. After climbing to the cliff view point, that puts you at mid-day with terrible light. I've done the best I could to mitigate it, but only partially successful.

    D7200, 80-400 VR @ 400mm; ISO 800, 1/2500s @ f/7.1 manual.

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    BPN Member Robert Kimbrell's Avatar
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    Fantastic bird you captured Bill. Love the banking view and what a photogenic tail. I like dark or blackgrounds I think you did exceptional to capture this in difficult light. I would wish for a little more light in his eye.
    Robert Kimbrell



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    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Bill:

    Such an elegant bird, with that long slim tail. Nice dorsal view. Appreciate the difficult conditions. Would be nice to have a bit more detail in the bg, give more sense of depth to the image.
    MY BPN ALBUMS

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    Black Background works well.

    I like the tail.

    TFS

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    Perfect BG to show off this beauty. Just amazing... TFS

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    Hi Bill, the bird looks great against the dark background. Lovely flight image. Thank you for sharing.
    Joe Przybyla

    "Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams

    www.amazinglight.smugmug.com

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    Excellent under the conditions we had to work with, Bill. Very nice control of the blacks and whites, especially achieving good separation from the upper wing leading black edge, and jet black cliff wall.


    Geoffrey




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    Excellent capture and composition with that long tail! Eye contact is almost there. I might lighten the bird's face a touch to give more suggestion of the eye. I think that would help to connect subject and viewer. Dark BG is really dramatic regardless!

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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    Thank you all for the helpful comments. There really isn't much detail in the BG, but I lightened it just a bit to give a hint of some OOF texture. (I can't decide it that is helpful or distracting.) I also brightened the face which helps show the eye. Thanks.

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    The bird looks great against that dark background. The dorsal view is nice as well.

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